Daily Life Struggle In Eastern Fantasy Land
by Equile
Summary: Hi, I'm Aya Shameimaru bringing you the latest news (definitely not from last month!) from all around Gensokyo! I also want to get your feedback on my news writing to help improve the contents of my articles. So please subscribe to my newspaper and upon doing so you will receive- Ah! Wait! I still have-! *door shut*
1. Issue01

Bunbunmaru News Flash!

Lurking presence in the comfort room! A supernatural attack?!

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It is just a few hours walk towards east of the Bamboo forest where some humans have established their settlement. They were a big famliy of bamboo cutters. Each family have their own house but is still connected by a roofed pathway. From this family, I met "Mystery guy A" who has been a bamboo cutter for as early as his memories could remember.

He says for the last few days, he's having trouble sleeping as he hears noises coming from their comfort room every night. It happens around past midnight and it happened for three nights straight. It doesn't bother him before as he thought it was someone from their family borrowing their comfort room, probably because their rooms are occupied.

But on the forth night, it happened! As he was coming home from cutting down bamboo, his whole family was getting ready to visit a festival on a nearby village. Exhausted from work, he decided to stay at home and call it a day. As soon as he laid his back on the nice tatami mat, he instantly fell in a deep slumber. This was later interrupted by the same noises he hear every night.

Still in a daze, he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position and wiped the sleep off his eyes. When he has come to his senses, it occured to him that he was alone, and that someone is using their comfort room.

He jumped up to his feet as if he was hit by lightning, his trusty blade in his hand. He went out to the hallway and sneaked his way to the comfort room. When he was about fifteen steps away from the room, he heard the door sliding open. His heart beating faster than a horse' gallop racing across the vast field, he felt faint and frozen in his tracks while pointing his blade towards the general direction of the door.

What seemed like an eternity ended as the door was completely slid wide open, light from a lit candle illuminating the inside of the room. A hand emerge clasping the side of the door followed by a figure of a person coming out. Mytery guy A's teary eyes slowly adjusted to the candlelight as he saw the face of the man in front of him. It was his drunk cousin who came home early from the festival.

As terrified as he was, his cousin was equally confused seeing him arching back almost tipping over while his dominant arm was outstretched wielding his blade bare.

After a few cups of tea and a little while of wiping the piss off the hallway's wooden floor. His cousin explained that he could remember passing out on the festival after a few drinks. When he woke up, he's already infront of his cousin's door face planted on the doorway. Then he felt his bowel in a disarray and rushed inside and used the toilet. Luckily, someone left a fire starter and a candle in the room.

"After our short talk, my cousin went home next door. I felt somehow relieved and thanked the gods for keeping me safe. I felt silly about myself and laughed it off and told myself how stupid I am to get restless over these things. Luckily I heard someone whispered to me to get myself checked by the pharmacist living inside the bamboo forest after my cousin left our house. I felt a little better now when sleeping at night!"

After those last sentences during my interview with him, he suddenly froze for a few second before blazing off like a mad man. After he was found, his family rushed him to Myouren Temple and asked the temple monk, Byakuren Hijiri to perform an exorcism on him. I believe he was shouting, "Someone was there! Someone was there! I was alone and someone whispered to me! Demons! DEMONS!"

I haven't really got back to him under that as the personnel wouldn't let me get near him for another interview while he is still recuperating.

On the other hand, the weather is warm and sunny! People are still waiting for the cold wind coming in this season. I guess winter has been pushed back on a later date. Or this might be a start of a new incident?

\- Aya Shameimaru


	2. Issue02

Bunbunmaru News!

Tea Party Within The Forest

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Braving to enter the forest of magic which is filled of intoxicating fumes from poisonous spore-boring fungus within the area, annoying fairies and other creatures is not very unusual nowadays.

One of these reasons is that there are herbs, crops, and other bounties of nature that exclusively grow inside the forest if you want to have the best quality ingredients you need! As such, the forest tend to lure the meticulous, adventurous and the curious bunch, bewitching each and everyone of them for the promising reward they would find inside its dark, damp and murky domain.

One of these brave souls is the young "Village Girl A", decided to gather wild flowers from the forest to add as a twist to her cooking. This is to surprise her mother on her upcoming birthday.

"It was crazy in there!" says Village Girl A. "I thought at first, 'I'll just pick some flowers by the tree line.' But after a while walking around, I felt this mental itch to venture into the woods." She says.

I asked her if she have given it a thought that it is actually dangerous for her to go out on her own, on a place that's visually screaming 'danger' in every angle and direction.

"Oh yes! I was always reminded by my family that it is very dangerous entering the forest. Especially when you're alone. But, oh the excitement I felt when I peered into its dark and mysterious presence, it sent chills down my spine and made every strand of my hair stand to their tips. I pictured myself walking around, surrounded by thick and ever entangling vines and tree branches. Rays of light escaping the lushness of their leaves and illuminates small patches of earth, creating an eerie feeling." I let her babble a little more on the adventures she created in her head before giving her a lecture of my own. Never to do something as reckless as this ever again. Unless she proves herself to be a lunatic, then I rest my case.

Going back to our topic, I asked her again what happened to her while she was inside the forest for half the day. This got her mother distressed and their neighbors are left with unrest feeling. This almost got out of hand that the villagers decided to charge inside the forest, had the current child of Miare let things go their way with the help from the half human, half hakutaku, Keine Kamishirasawa.

"Y-you don't really have to remind me. I didn't get much sleep that night." She said as she shivers at the thought. I really can't blame her. Mothers tend to be very frightening in their own way. After a short talk about mothers and a few cups of tea, we were back on trail

"Venturing into the woods is surprisingly not that creepy at all. It is much brighter and much livelier than I thought it would be, thanks to the creativeness of the fairies. And they seem to be docile as I made my stride across their abode. I guess there are times when they would just want to take it easy."

It seems that if I let her go with her phase of telling her story, it would take a huge chunk on my schedule! So I directly asked her about being invited to a house that was located inside the forest and what happened during her stay.

"Oh! That nice looking house that seemed out of place? Of course I remember. I haven't seen anything like it in the village. I stumble upon it by accident though. You see, I was lost in thought that I haven't noticed I strayed too far from the village. Then it just presented itself in front of me! It's white and strudy walls somehow blends beautifully to its myterious environment. It gives off that haunted feel, but in a nice and beautiful way."

I asked her about the person who invited her to the house. "I think it was a doll than a person. No less bigger than your average fairy. Only she doesn't have wings. She's sweeping a stone pathway in the lawn and took notice of me. The black of it's eyes were alternating from going big to getting small. It was looked really creepy while it's staring at me like that. Then it tilted it small head to the side and it is the cutest thing I've seen in my life!" She just started squirming and giggling and making that muffled screams while rolling on the to her sides on the floor.

"It walked towards me and stretched its arms upwards as if asking me to lift it up. When I tried to reach out to it, its tiny hand touched the tip of my finger and started pulling me. I was confused for a while, then it looked at me and started pointing at the house. I can't really resist it so, I followed her into the house." Please don't follow a stranger, or a strange doll because they are cute. It could lead you to a human-eating youkai before you know it.

"I was brought to living room and was served tea and a plate of cookies. It would really be nice if not for a ton of other dolls staring at you and covering almost every space in the room, sparing the floor and a few spaces to sit on the sofa. I really like the cookies though. Also, she's so cute struggling to lift the teapot and pour some on the elegant looking cups. I couldn't help but ask if she's a youkai. Then she stood up straight looking at me and curtsied on the table. I really wanted to take her home! But not too long after that, I heard a really loud explosion outside then every doll rushed out of the living and went towards the kitchen. Then rushed back and towards the porch with all kinds of things they could get their hands on! Swords, spears, arrows, pfft, a rolling pin. Literally everything. The last one to get out is the cute little doll lifting up a round shield over her head as she hurriedly followed suit to her friends."

When asked regarding the explosion, she told me, "Well, I took a peek on the window and saw a girl wearing a black hat. Her clothes are black and white and she's riding a broom while being chased off by an army of dolls. I think I heard her shouting something right after the explosion. I think she was calling out someone named like 'Alice', I think? Yes, I think it is. It goes something like, 'Alice! I've come to play!'"

Most of her story revolved around the doll who invited her after that. How it ran around raising its shield and tripping every now and then but kept on running around anyway. Picking between the issue regarding this and the issue about the low water level on Genbu Ravine which might cause a problem with the water supply in the human village, I surely picked the wrong scoop.

\- Aya Shameimaru


	3. Issue03

Bunbunmaru News Flash!

Romantic Dinner With The Scarlet Devil?

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The gossip spread within the human village like a wild fire, and this tengu got its sights on the smoke. "Female Guest A" was swarmed by people ranging from their neighbors to the ones living on the outskirts of the village. Despite of her busy schedule due to her sudden rise in fame, I got an exclusive interview with her.

"It started on one fated encounter. What seems to be an ordinary walk to the market suddenly changes with a single moment. A dust blown by the wind, scattered to the vast plains!" Oh sister, please spare me with the romanticized introduction. I guess she had a lot of practice on how to tell her story.

"Yes, I remember well. She walked like a specter, unnoticed but you can feel her presence. Her silver mane shining like clear water, flowing quietly on a calm river. Her skin so pale, like snow covering the earth with its pure white powder. Her scent, like a sweet scent of flowers covering the hills on spring. Her eyes are like priceless gem. Polished and crafted to decorate her angelic and solemn face. Ah~ Miss maid! Please look at me~!" I felt my brow twitched just by listening to her story. Something I consider to be remarkable.

"Her hand gently run along the cabbage's veiny surface. Her eyes thoroughly inspecting it to the smallest detail." I politely asked her to minimize the details of her story for she might be busy for the rest of her day. And to help her minimize the story even further, I asked her questions for her to answer in a brief but meaningful detail.

"Her purpose in visiting? Well obviously to stock up their food supply. Like I said, she was looking at the cabagges when we found her."

Relieved by the normal way of answering, I continued my interview.

"She didn't talk to me. Normally, she wouldn't talk to anyone while she does her chore except if for the store owners when she's to pay for her groceries. But I had my eye on her from the from moment I first saw her in the village. So I muster up some courage and talked to her. I asked her if she works in the mansion by the lake even though it is known by the whole village that she does. I asked if I can work there myself. Or if she needs pointers on picking fresh vegetables on the market. Well, I didn't get any response from her for the first few minutes."

"Then she just suddenly held my hand and asked me if I can join her for dinner! Just like that! She held my hand, gazed upon my eyes and gently spoke into my ears. 'Would you join me for dinner, milady?'. She stole my heart faster than an arrow- Oh, of course. I'm really sorry. Thank you for reminding me of the time."

How was your trip to the mansion? Are you alone? Are you with someone? "Oh. She picked me up at our house. Yes, I brought her to my home earlier and told me that she'll get my by sundown. I hurriedly stormed my closet for anything that I could wear. The best that I could find is the yukata I only wear during festivals. I really don't have other options left so I went with that dress and quickly fixed my hair."

"She was at our doorstep by the exact time the last ray of light vanished in the night sky. She held out her hand and told me she would escort me back to the mansion. I was expecting for a long walk back to her house but, by the moment I held her hand, we were already in front of the gates. We still had a long walk towards the balcony, but it was a long silent walk. The main reason was me not getting enough of what I have seen inside. My jaw was left hanging on it hinges even after we've arrived at the balcony. The scenery was breath taking!"

And then you two had your dinner? "That is what I hoped for, yes. Sadly, I sat on the table with this child in the opposite end. Well, she's still around and serving us everything we need and that's nice. But I was hoping to have dinner with her and have a talk. Instead, I'm having a conversation with a child which I really have no idea what she's talking about. All I can say is, 'Oh, that's really lovely' or 'that must have been hard.' Then she told a joke and I think its funny because she's laughing at it pretty hard and even the table is laughing with her. Then it choked afterwards because it suddenly swallowed everything that's placed above it."

"Later, I saw her talking to another girl with a long purple hair. I think she's telling her not to use their furnitures for her experiments. After that I was sent home the same way I was brought to the mansion. She left with only saying her thanks for joining her master and then vanished in a flick of a finger and that was that."

This comes without question that we should always observe proper table manners. Or in this case, we could say that the table should have manners.

\- Aya Shameimaru


	4. Issue04

Bunbunmaru News Flash!

Sinister Plot Within The Genbu Ravine?

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There's a rumor going on within the village which became a concern for some suspicious groups. This rumor roots from the noise that can be heard every time they visit the river. And the noise is coming from the general location of Genbu Ravine.

I tried talking to Concerned Villager A on his thoughts regarding the matter. "Well, normally it is not a surprise that the kappa community would be a noisy bunch considering their drive for industrial revolution. All the more that they have the blessing from the mountain goddess. But knowing that they are expanding their project near the village perimeter leaves us some what concerned."

To uncover the truth, I rushed to the heart of the matter! The Genbu Ravine! And Upon my arrival, I've spotted a blue haired kappa that goes by the name of Nitori Kawashiro. Without wasting any second, I've asked her for an interview on what are her thoughts upon the matter.

"Oh, that? We're getting rid of those metal junks that got carried away by the water current. It'll be bad if that caused floods for the human village if they piled up. So we are picking them up piece by piece. The heavy ones are a hassle so we're tearing them apart. That might be the cause of the noise."

So you're not plotting anything? "Anyway, there's no point asking me this. I believe you can get a full view of what's happening from your perch up in the mountain." Guk! She's probably right. But I can't give up just yet!

I asked her where they move the scrapped metals from the river. "Oh, we traded them with the onis from the former blazing hell. Now that the fires of hell are active again, they can somehow utilize it as a furnace. And a lot of them craftsmen are more than happy that they can do what they love the most. Sadly the trade profit for these scraps are dirt cheap because they are 'low quality' materials."

So what exactly are they crafting? "Beats me. I've never been to the former hell lately. I've got so much to do these days so if you could leave me alone now, I would really appreciate it."

I did not get much from the kappa after that and I went back to my office and wrote this article. Maybe I should visit the underground city next? But that place is filled with Onis, my former bosses. Maybe I should really think hard if this is really worth it.

\- Aya Shameimaru


	5. Issue05

Bunbunmaru News

Bridge Princess Not Allowing Entry To The Former Hell!

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Tension rises between the human village and the underground dwellers, or in this case, between some human and a certain youkai who resides on the bridge of the former hell.

These curious humans have taken interest to the cultures of the underground dwellers and decided to visit the former hell. Unfortunately, their little tour was cut short when they reached the bridge that was being guarded by a hashihime and would not let them cross towards the old city.

In my investigation on the issue, I found one of the humans who have tried to enter the underground city and invited him for an interview. "We just wanted to establish a peaceful connection with the onis of the underground by sharing a certain interest with them." said Curios Person A.

"Why do they have to drive us out like that? Can't we all live in peace and harmony with one another?" You are looking at this problem in a very narrow view. "You don't understand! This could be a start towards a brighter tomorrow for the humans and the underground dwellers." You're being too optimistic about this plan of yours. It could end up not being in your favor, you know?

"For now, my brethren and I are considering to hire an exterminator to get rid of this evil youkai." I really wouldn't agree on the evil part. Frankly, I think that you should be thankful of her. "Anyhow, if everyone in our group agrees to this, may this be the first part of our plan to strengthen to bond between humans and onis." And on that note, I took off to the skies to reach greater heights! Actually, I really just wanted to leave.

But on my way back, I thought of taking someone else' opinion on this matter. Someone who is more acquainted with the works and ways of youkai. Someone whose entire existence is all about youkai. I'm talking about the wonderful shrine maiden of paradise, Reimu Hakurei.

As I got near the Hakurei Shrine, I can already spot her sweeping dried leaves off the stone path of her shrine. After one intense danmaku duel and a tiring conversation, I finally convinced her for a quick interview.

Without wasting a second, I asked her opinion about the humans planning to enter the former hell.

"It's stupid." Was all the reply I got so I asked her if she could further explain her reply. "I mean, why would anyone wanted to go to hell? It is called 'hell' for a reason. If they could not understand something as simple as that, then they are stupid."

I do remember one incident where you visited hell. "I was performing my job. An important one. Personally, I would rather stay away from that place."

Well, they are looking for someone to exterminate some youkai for them. "Hey, I know this is an opportunity, but I wouldn't be caught sending off people to hell."

That is very noble of you. "You know what? Rather than this nonsense, why don't you advertise my shrine instead? I'm sure it would be better for the human village if my shrine would gain popularity. So how about it? Have a little charity for this hard working miko?" Whoops! I think I need to split before she pulls out a Fantasy Heaven on me.

\- Aya Shameimaru


	6. Issue06

Bunbunmaru News

Mask Trend Rises Within The Human Village?

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Business is great for the candy stores, mask peddlers and mask makers around the village as masks seems to be very popular among the children. It's origin is still unknown as to why this simple object gains so much popularity. Is it some sort of festival? A ritual? A superstition? An act of a youkai perhaps?

There is no better way to answer this question than being in the heart of the event. Unfortunately, every person I could interview doesn't seem to know the reason behind this sudden trend.

"All I could say is that my child keeps asking me to buy her one. I don't really see any harm from doing it." Says Villager Person A.

"The reason? Nothing really. I guess children are just children. They get caught up by their silly curiosity and imagination. I'm sure they'll get bored of it after some time." Says villager Person B.

Although this makes sense, I need to make sure this isn't really something to be considered as an incident. Otherwise, I've spent my whole day on a wild-goose chase.

But as I wandered around the village while looking for an answer, I stumbled upon this youkai girl whose popularity has recently grown within the human village. Her theatrical plays and danmaku plays are exemplary and something to behold. The girl whose emotions are shown by the masks that she own, Hata no Kokoro!

I approached her for an interview but, as I got near her, she instantly brought out her naginata and tried to reduce me to half my size. This went on for quite a while until she calmed down and let me have a proper interview with her.

"So, what does a fool like you needed from the one standing in front of you." It's pretty annoying but I have to calm down. If she gets worked up again, I might meet the Yama earlier than I expected. Actually, you won't see just by looking at her, but that Hannya mask over her face and that grim aura around her shows that she's not in a good mood.

I am actually hesitant to ask her because it would show that I am suspecting her. But my journalist spirit wants to reveal the truth and that is what I am here to do! So I asked her directly if she knows anything about the sudden popularity of masks in the village.

"Oh, so we are looking at the same case. I am actually looking for the culprit right now." Looking for the culprit? You mean you don't have any idea about this?

"Indeed. Wait, what do you mean? Are you suspecting me?" No, no, no! You misunderstand! You see, you've been performing theatrics and danmaku plays around the village, so I thought you've made a social trend among the villagers with the masks floating around you.

"I understand. I guess it be misunderstood easily." Whew! Saved the tips of my feathers on that one.

You said you are looking for the culprit. Does this mean that this could be an incident? "Yes. Though one can consider it as a minor annoyance rather than an incident. I'm here to clean up this mess."

You seem rather eager to solve this problem. "Yes. If my suspicion is correct, this is her way of expressing a challenge or just one of her pranks."

In the following lines, I have planned to have this off-record until we have concrete proof. But as luck would have it, I don't need to wait any longer.

I'll put this off the record for now as we don't have enough proof but, who is this culprit that you are talking about? "I see. First off, I would like to talk about the situation we have. First, the cause of this madness is unknown. Second, in my investigation, only the children in the village seems to be affected by this."

I see. You really did investigate this case. "Yes, although the proof I have is still not enough, I have this feeling that the one responsible for this is none other than Koishi Komeiji."

And that is when it happened. We both heard some wooden boards fell down and saw Koishi Komeiji, sister of Satori Komeiji and one of the masters of Palace of the Earth spirits, standing behind a wooden fence. "Oh, I got caught." And she vanished instantly after that. Miss Kokoro run off to chase her but I doubt she'd catch her.

I would be chasing both of them but thinking about it, causing a huge prank just to annoy someone. Everyone seems to be taking it easy.

\- Aya Shameimaru


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